This invention relates to an interface architecture especially an interface protocol used for analog signal image signal processor.
Recently, the performance progress in personal computer (PC) has been becoming more powerful in either CPU processing speed or data storage ability. Also the worldwide Internet effectively reduces the distance between people. All of these factors have created a strong demand in color image processing system, such as desktop scanners, sheet feed scanners, handy scanners, electronic cameras, bar-code readers, etc.
Conventionally, an imaging system controller uses a complicated serial or parallel interface protocol to control the signal processing operation. The digital image data of analog signal processor are outputted to a parallel port. The number of data output ports depends on the resolution of the analog-to-digital converter. For high resolution image processing systems, the digital data output must allocate a large number of pins of a package to translate its correlated analog image pixel signal, such that the total analog image signal processor cost is dominated by the chip size of data output pads, which are limited, and the cost of high pin-count package.